Lipofiling of the face

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Lipofilling - also called fat grafting - is a procedure to fill parts of the face/body with your own body fat, instead of using chemical products or an implant. It is an extremely efficient procedure because it is not very invasive and produces natural results. About 60% of the fat is permanent. Lipofilling is often the finishing touch Facial Feminization Surgery.

Procedure

The fat used for fat grafting can be extracted from any part of the body, such as the abdomen or thighs, through liposuction, and will be injected where necessary. This cosmetic procedure can be used to rejuvenate the face, plump up the cheeks or lips, or to correct problems such as hollow eye sockets or scars.

Fat grafts are usually done under local anesthesia. If it is combined with other procedures, it will usually be performed under general anesthesia. The by Dr. The method used by Bart van de Ven is called the Coleman method.

  • Liposuction—The fat used to re-inject into the face can be extracted from any part of the body where there is enough fat using liposuction. The fat is usually removed from the abdomen or upper legs. After injecting local anesthetic, which minimizes bleeding in this specific area, a very small incision is made and fat is aspirated using a blunt needle with multiple holes and a special suction pump. The small incision is closed with one suture.
  • Filtration—This fat is filtered to separate blood, oil, and local anesthetic from the fat cells.
  • Fat injection—The area where more volume is desired is injected with a minimal amount of local anesthesia, after which the fat cells are injected with very fine injection needles.
    • The trick is to inject only a very small amount of fat with each movement of the injection needle. In this way, the transplanted fat will be in direct contact with the surrounding tissues and the fat in the blood vessels will be able to grow very quickly. This allows the fat to survive.
    • About 50% of the fat is permanent. Therefore, the surgeon takes measures to compensate for the volume loss due to overinjection.
    • This is a example of what a fat injection in the lips looks like.
  • After six months we can see the end result because normally not much changes after that. It is still unknown how the transplanted fat will behave in the coming years/decades. However, it is likely that the normal aging process continues and the fat slowly disappears. On the other hand, we also expect that the difference the transplant makes will last a very long time.
  • Repeated—After 6 months, if necessary, another fat grafting can be performed until the desired effect is obtained. Recurrence is required for approximately 50% of our patients.

Recovery

  • Swelling—Immediately after surgery, the cheek will be quite swollen and bruised. After about 3 weeks, about 80% of the bruising and swelling will have disappeared. After 4 months you can get a good impression of what the end result (after 6 months) will be. About 7 to 10 days after the operation, you can go out again with confidence and resume your social life. If there were bruises, they may remain visible for a little longer, but you can hide them fairly well with a good concealer if desired.
  • Exaggeration—At first the correction may seem a bit exaggerated. We usually overcorrect, which means we inject more fat than necessary. We do this because approximately 40% of transplanted fat cells do not survive. The end result can be seen after 6 months.
  • Correction—A second session may be scheduled to make up for any volume deficiency. The survival of fat cells depends on many factors. Your body naturally absorbs fat, so the surgeon must initially over-inject, and the success rate can vary significantly. However, some fat cells are reabsorbed by the body and sometimes only a certain percentage is permanent, although new techniques show an increasingly longer lifespan.
  • If you gain weight in the future—If your weight increases significantly in the future, it may show up in the treated areas.